Tuesday, December 6, 2016

I love the idea of having homemade bread but I don't always like to make it. This past Sunday I was on the hunt for a good bread machine recipe and found the one below on AllRecipes.com. I made modifications based on some of the comments posted on the recipe so this is modified. Not only did we finish one entire loav that very evening but I made another one because the kids were so sad to not have homemade bread for sandwiches the next day.

Directions:
1. Place warm water, yeast, and honey in bread machine tub and let it sit for 10 minutes to activate the yeast.
2. Pour flour, butter, and salt in with the yeast and put it on the white bread setting on your machine.
3. Done.

I wanted to make more than one loaf at a time so today I doubled the recipe and did it by hand instead of in the machine. My kids will be so excited when they get home from school!

Directions:
1. Mix cereal together in a large baking dish.
2. Cook butter, brown sugar and corn syrup on medium-high heat stirring constantly until it becomes a little frothy and then add baking soda. Continue to stir until baking soda is mixed in well. It will become very frothy.
3. Pour over cereal and mix well. I pour 1/3 of the caramel over the cereal at a time. Bake at 250 degrees for 10-15 minutes and mix again.
4. Pour onto parchment paper and let cool. You can add chocolate chips, M&M minis, coconut, or nuts if you like.

Directions:
1. Preheat an oven to 450 degrees.
2. Place chicken breasts between two sheets of heavy plastic on a solid, level surface. Firmly pound chicken with the smooth side of a meat mallet to a thickness of 1/2-inch. Season chicken thoroughly with salt and papper.
3. Beat eggs in a shallow bowl and set aside.
4. Mix bread crumbs and 1/2 cup Parmesan in a separate bowl, set aside.
5. Place flour in a sifter or strainer; sprinkle over chicken breasts, evenly coating both sides.
6. Dip flour coated chicken breast in beaten eggs. Transfer breast to breadcrumb mixtrue, pressing the crumbs into both sides. Repeat for each breast. Set aside breaded chicken breasts for about 15 minutes.
7. Heat 1 cup olive oil in a large skillet on medium-high heat until it begins to simmer. Cook chicken until golden, about 2 minues on each side. The chicken will finish cooking in the oven.
8. Place chicken in a baking dish and top each breast with about 1/3 cup of tomato sauce. Layer each chicken breast with equal amounts of mozzarella cheese, fresh basil, and provolone cheese. Sprinkle 1 to 2 tablespoons of Parmesan cheese on top and drizzle with 1 tablespoon olive oil.
9. Bake in the preheated oven until cheese is browned and bubbly, and chicken breasts are no longer pink in the center, 15 to 20 minutes.

Notes: I didn't have fresh basil so I used dried in a much smaller amount. I also didn't have fresh mozzarella so I used shredded. It all still tasted great so any variation will probably work.

Saturday, March 26, 2016

This recipe was made for a recent Young Women Funderaiser dinner. For that event, they cooked them in crockpots and that is the recipe and directions that I'll post. However, I thought of them as a last minute idea and was able to make them on the stove in a shorter period of time. It works either way and they are DELICIOUS!!!

Directions:
Combine ingredients and pour over meatballs in crock pot. Cook on low for 4-5 hours, stirring the meatballs to coat evenly every 45 minutes to an hour.

Notes: If you make these on the stovetop, just cook/heat the frozen meatballs in the oven first while making the sauce and then combine the two. Or, you could make homemade meatballs as well. They just need to be cooked before going into the sauce if you are doing them over the stovetop. I served these with rice.

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees and grease cake pans.
2. Whisk together the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl.
3. In your mixer bowl, place your wet ingredients.
4. Add half of the dry ingredients into the mixer bowl with the wet ingredients and mix together.
5. Then add the rest of the dry ingredients and blend them in.
6. Mix for 2 minutes on Medium speed in your mixer.
7. Pour the batter half way in the prepared pans or 2/3 of the way in a cupcake pan.
8. Bake at 300 degrees for 20-30 minutes (depending on the size of the cake) then turn the oven up to 325 degrees for about an equal amount of time. Check to make sure that your cake is not getting too dark and keep an eye on it for the last 10 minutes so that it doesn't overbake.

2. Whip heavy cream with vanilla and powdered sugar until stiff peaks form. Remove half of the cream and set aside. Stir diced strawberries into the remaining cream.

3. Place one layer of cake onto a serving platter. Spread 1/3 of the strawberries and cream filling over the top. Add another layer of the cake and continue layering until all 4 layers are in tact. If filling looks like it's being pushed out from the sides of the cake, simply scrape the edges to even everything out. Frost the entire cake with the remaining plain whipped cream. Top with sliced strawberries as a garnish.

4. Refrigerate 4 hours to overnight to set completely (so it will cut nicely). Slice and serve.

Notes: I found the most amazing recipe for making any boxed cake mix taste divine and that's what I used for my white cake. I'm posting it next.

Directions for Chicken Baked Ziti:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Cook the pasta al dente in a large stockpot of well-salted boiling water according to package instructions. Drain. Return pasta to the stockpot and add chicken and alfredo sauce. Gently toss to combine until the pasta is evenly coated.
3. Pour half of the pasta into a greased 11x7-inch or 9x13-inch baking dish. Sprinkle evenly with 1 cup of cheese. Layer the remaining half of hte pasta evenly on top. Sprinkle evenly with the remaining 1/2 cup of cheese.
4. Bake for 20-25 minutes until the cheese is melted and just barely starts to turn golden. Remove and serve immediately, sprinkled with additional toppings, if desired.

Directions for Alfredo Sauce:
1. Heat olive oil in a large sate pan over medium-high heat. Add garlic and saute one minute, stirring occasionally, until fragrant. Sprinkle with flour, and stir to combine. Saute for an additional minute to cook the flour, stirring occasionally.
2. Slowly add chicken broth, whisking to combine until smooth. Whisk in milk, and bring the mixture to a simmer. Let cook for an additional minute until thickened, then stir in Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper until the cheese is melted. Remove from heat and set aside.